High Profile X Accounts Hacked to Promote Crypto Scam

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• Scammers have hacked several high-profile X accounts to promote a crypto maliciously
• Some of the accounts hacked include that of Yahoo News UK and popular soccer player Neymar Jr
• The scammers are however thought to have lost money in the scheme

Scammers continue looking for new ways to get easy money and have hacked X (formerly Twitter) accounts of prominent entities to promote a crypto maliciously. Some of the compromised accounts include that of popular Brazilian football player Neymar Jr, Yahoo News UK, and Lenovo’s India branch. On-chain sleuths like ZachXBT have, however, revealed that the scammers potentially lost money in the project since only a few X users fell for the trick, indicating that social media users are able to detect fishy projects.

Digital Forensics: The Scammers are “Incompetent”

The malicious actors used the hacked accounts to promote a Solana-based meme coin HACKED. The scammers wrote that investors would profit by pumping the token’s price. “On each account we hack we publish the token address so we pump it and make profits together,” they wrote on tweets across the compromised accounts.

According to ZachXBT, the pump attempt didn’t go as planned since the meme coin’s trading volume remained low, adding that the scammers likely stole roughly $8,000 in the scheme. 

Update: They removed liq for the meme coin and only made $8K off the scam

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— ZachXBT (@zachxbt) September 18, 2024

ZachXBT added that the malicious actors “probably spent 5-6 figures on the method” so they likely lost money, describing the scammers as “incompetent.” The meme coin currently has a liquidity of $27 and a market capitalization of below $4,000. 

They probably spent 5-6 figures on the method so lost money lmao

Strong contender for most incompetent hacker of the year

— ZachXBT (@zachxbt) September 18, 2024

Digital Forensics: Pump.fun Made Meme Coin Creation Free

The on-chain investigator suspects that the accounts were hacked after giving “permissions to the same site/app.” The incident comes a month after Pump.fun announced that it would make meme coin creation free and reward meme coin developers “when their coin completes its bonding curve.” Pump.fun-generated coins are listed on the Solana blockchain.

With the scammers failing to nab many victims despite using prominent X accounts, they may choose to promote wallet drainers instead of pumping meme coins.